by Nausherwan Korai

Created on: July 22, 2009   Last Updated: October 14, 2009

The old argument: Books or Movies? Of course for an avid Harry Potter fan it isn't the same argument, for them it's which seems to portray the emotions better. The first Harry Potter book in the series was portrayed in a way J.K. Rowling that was able to show Harry's sense of fear and wonder, to the humour she conveyed from the book itself, and this riveted many readers to the series. Because of this initial attraction readers watched the first movie then the next and the next, and read all the books. And the thing that brought us back for more was that whenever we read the book it played out in our minds eye. So it was like watching a movie in our heads, our own portration of hogwarts, of the life surrounding Harry Potter and over the years after watching the movies the portrayal in our head from the books slowly adapted to what the characters looked like in real life. but here's where the similarity ends between the book and the movies. The movies, couldn't evoke the same sense of emotion as the books could.

Lets take The Goblet of Fire's example. When Harry finds himself a champion, Rowling makes us feel the bond between the headmaster and Harry, and shows us the trust Dumbledore shows in Harry after asking him just once about the truth. In the movie however, it feels as if the headmaster is angry at harry, and indeed it feels as if he believed Harry had entered himself. These small differences meant that the movies felt slightly alien to the readers. Not that I'm saying that the movies were bad, quite on the contrary the movies were excellent, as the special effects and acting of the cast made sure of that. But there was always a sense of something or the other being changed and tweaked. Therefore it always left some longing, some inexplicable sense that we must connect with the movie as profoundly as we connected with the book.

Thus the movies were great in their own right, but if there is to be a comparison? Well actually there is no comparison, the books were more emotional, more exciting, and definitely better than the movies, though that might change with the release of The Half-blood Prince, as people are hinting that this here might finally be the Harry Potter movie to compete with its book. Now all we can do is wait, and maybe hope that it is at least as good as the previous movies, which were absolutely amazing, and wish its as good as the books, which were a milestone in children's literature. At least we can all agree that the books and movies are both legends in and amopngst themselves, and Hogwarts and Harry Potter will live forever in the memories of most.

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